Multi-layered cities. Destroy and build
What can be considered architectural defects, and what is an example of perfection of urban development? If the fascist regime is a vice, should its architecture be demolished to make way for new buildings? The architect Robert Stern admires the architecture of totalitarianism and justifies the creations of Albert Speer by the fact that the same stylistic, formal and technological solutions can serve radically different politicians.
"When I was a student, I was taught that form and content are not the same thing," explains Stern. If the architectural form itself does not carry any ideology, and therefore vice, then are the city's shapeless ruins recognized as vices, which often cause chaos and destruction around? And if these ruins are the only connection with the past, a historical architectural legacy that causes awe and a sense of nostalgia? To build or to destroy - asking this eternal question, a person applies opposing forces: first he creates, then destroys and again revives what has been lost, patching up the gaps in the urban fabric after wars, natural disasters and designers' mistakes.
Photo: Wilhelm Gunkel / Unsplash
As a result, we have "Frankenstein cities": sometimes disharmonious, sometimes balanced. But in this whole process, this is interesting: in the most difficult times in a person's life, it is cities and states that, paradoxically, activate reserve forces, turning into hotbeds of new ideas. That's what happened to Milan. Today it is a center of art, design, fashion, architecture. Like many cities, it has experienced the change of different regimes, but the phenomenon of Milan lies in its amazing balance between the old and the new, in its unique multi-layeredness.
The Milan Cathedral was built over 6 centuries, changing the shape of the facade under the influence of different eras and styles. But the nature of multi-layeredness is not only in the business card of Milan, but also in the diversity of its urban development. Art deco of the 20s, architecture of dictation, industrial complexes rehabilitated after stagnation, avant-garde, radicalism, and ultra-modern skyscrapers were mixed here. However, all this coexists in amazing harmony.
What is the reason? First, in Milan, unlike other Italian cities, demolitions and new buildings have always been restrained. Secondly, it was in those most difficult times that led to economic recovery, became the ground for a new art, raised humanist architects who had a huge impact on the field of design throughout Italy and beyond. We are talking about the post-war period of the 40s and 50s.
Tough times
Destruction, economic decline, poverty - after World War II, Italy is trying to return to normal life. And activating all her forces, she realizes that it is necessary not just to return, but to make the previous life better, that is, more comfortable, more convenient, more beautiful — to create a dolce vita. At that time, like lights in the black bottomless sky, points of small productions flashed on the map of Italy, and by the sixties the "sky" was so filled with the stars of factories, factories, factories that it received a flash of bright light - an economic boom.
Photo: Flavio Amiel/Unsplash
In turn, Milan is formed as an industrial city. But his big architecture is now giving way to "small objects" - this is the term that the famous architect of the era, Vico Magistretta, called the products of factory production. This is what he says about this: "It is in industrial design that freedom of creativity can be found! Now people want to buy a lot of small things instead of big houses." And he is absolutely right. Only to this statement should be added the fact that at the same time as the productions all over Italy, the stars of architectural thought are breaking out: Aldo Rossa, Carlo Scarpa, Luigi Caccia Dominioni and the already mentioned Vico Magistretta. Many of them were born in Milan, so they absorbed the basic principles of the local architectural school.
During that period, new teachers proclaimed a new Italian style for a new man (uomo nuovo). And when both parties — architects and factories — begin to interact, this is where a real big cultural breakthrough takes place. Piero Lissoni tells about a turning point in Italian cultural life (we will return to this figure later): "In the middle of the last century, our masters laid the foundations of two-way communication with factories, thereby creating a springboard into the future, when manufacturers, moving away from previous traditions, became attract architects to the design of their production" (read more in the interview for PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA in Volume No. 25).
Photo: Ilaria de Bona / Unsplash
In addition to the dialogue between factories and architects, which Lissony talks about, there is another connection - the connection of family companies with their roots. And this is also a springboard into the future. To understand the success of famous modern brands, one should look for the answer in history — the history of their predecessors, the history of the city, the history of the entire state.
The history of the factory in the history of the city
Lualdi began its journey as a small family workshop. It was opened way back in 1859, and its founder was the craftsman Carlo Lualda. At first, the company was engaged in processing wood and making furniture to order, but after 100 years of manual labor, it reached a new level. Today, the Lualdi factory is a world leader in the production of high-class designer doors and partitions, which is engaged in the completion of interiors around the world. It is already managed by the fourth generation, but the company owes its success to Milan.
Alberto Lualdi, CEO Lualdi Porte; Philippe Starck; Olga Lualdi, Lualdi communications manager; Perugia Lualdi, head of Lualdi's contracts department.
Photo: Omar Boccuto
"Milan is a city with which our brand has maintained an inseparable connection since its birth," says Olga Lualdy, communications manager. — Milan has a strictly symbolic meaning for us, because our history began and developed thanks to close relations with architects who were the driving force behind the renovation of the city in the XNUMXs. And our iconic models created in collaboration with these architects are ideal markers of the turning point that determined the company's entry into the world of design."
Welcome is the first collection developed in collaboration with the legendary architect and designer Philippe Starck for Lualdi. In the photo: Philippe Starck during the presentation of the collection. Photo courtesy of Lualdi. Photo: Omar Boccuto
Let's go back to history. The fifty The heavily destroyed, "depraved" post-war Milan is being restored following the traces of the previous building. Unlike other cities subject to new master plans, here they feel a connection with their historical past, and the ruins of classical foundations serve as a defining vector for new architecture. At this time, the Lualdi company is helping the city's revival — it produces and supplies large batches of windows for reconstructed buildings.
Matrix boisters and sliding panels
And Milan pays the factory with the same coin: the sixties become very fruitful for Lualdi, it begins to collaborate with major architects of the era: Ignazio Gardella, Anna Castella Ferriera, Roberto Menga, Marco Dzanuso. And building a special relationship with them, the company supports the concept of a new Italian line, reaches industrial scale and grows into a major brand.
Welcome to the hotel
At the heart of Lualdi's philosophy is not only an appeal to the past, but also a visionary look into the future. The Welcome collection, created together with the legendary Philippe Starck, is a project about progressive technologies. The Welcome series, developed specifically for hotels, is not a door, but an intelligent system. In addition to the canvas itself, it includes a handle, a light, a panel with a room number and a touch screen in order to help the client with a number of useful services.
In addition to the door leaf, the Welcome system includes decorative lighting, a panel with a room number and a touch screen
Stark compares the system to the intellectual doors from Philip K. Dick's science fiction novel "Ubyk". Welcome smart doors welcome and protect the guest, heat the room and send messages. The touch display includes the function of face recognition, and it is also possible to register the date of check-in, select room conditions and contact the staff. All this makes the stay at the hotel as comfortable as possible.
Shoin is a system of sliding doors and stationary glass panels with one or two guides, designed to create partitions in space
"The hotel sector is very difficult," said Peruigi Lualdi, Lualdi's contract manager, "because it requires the exceptional ability to customize a product that we've long been known for." Welcome is characterized by a simple design and small spectacular details. The door system is installed flush with the wall and can be made in a wide range of finishes: wood, aluminum and matte lacquer. This allows you to easily adapt the door to the hotel space, which includes items of various brands. The shape of the handle resembles a river stone, smoothed by water - the three-dimensionality of the shape is emphasized by decorative lighting. The handle is very pleasant to the touch, which allows you to feel at home in the hotel.
"The door is not an object, it is a moment, an action, the beginning of history. it is a mystery, a drama, an opera... The door is the boundary between reality and the world of dreams, between the public world and the private sphere, and we can draw it in thousands of different ways." Philippe Starck
"I always try to find a point of contact between an architect and a designer," says Philippe Starck. "The opportunity to design a door (a favorite symbol of surrealists) allowed me to experience it once again." "We have established a fruitful cooperation with Philippe Starck," added Peruigi Lualdi. — We like his wit and his ability to create objects of original form.
Doors to old Milan. Luigi Caccia Dominions
Working with the iconic architect, the father of Italian modernism, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, was a valuable experience for Lualdi. A man of aristocratic origin, he was the embodiment of a true Milanese: calm, hardworking, who considered work a public service. Dominion cultivated intelligence and an unmistakable style, and he saw his mission as "building for a person and around a person". He never recognized ready-made solutions and believed that a person should feel at home, as in a custom-made suit.
Luigi Caccia Dominioni, a Milanese architect
The architect prioritized functionality, and this is what he said about his approach to design: "Architecture should start from the inside, not the outside. The arrangement of furniture determines the configuration of the space of the room. This, in turn, affects the location of windows and doors. Everything together forms an apartment, and the sum of the apartments determines the shape of the building. And only then can you think about the facade."
Designing from the inside out, Dominions gives the door an important spatial shaping role. Such a role is performed by the LCD door, created by an architect for Lualdi in 1962. This is a very simple, at first glance, door that is "inconspicuously" built into the body of the wall - it has hidden hinges. The reverse opening system cancels the hierarchy of rooms or the presence of a dominant direction of movement: the door seems to yield to a person without being an obstacle in his way. Its telescopic overlay allows you to change the thickness of the fabric, adapt the product to walls and partitions of any thickness.
Luigi Caccia Dominioni: "Architecture must start from the inside, not the outside"
After 50 years, this model remains relevant. In the company's new catalog, it has undergone some technical and aesthetic changes (proportions and decoration), but still the modern LCD door refers to its perfect historical prototype.
From a spoon to a city
We see how modern Milan is intensively built up, but often new buildings are so harmoniously integrated into the structure of the city that they do not argue with the old buildings, but form a single whole with it. The transition from the old to the new Milan is symbolically embodied in the work of Cino Dzucca — the design of the entrance to the Italian pavilion at the XIV Venice Biennale. Chino repeatedly uses the image of a door or a portal to express the connection of new objects with the historical past (read more in the material "Reflection as a method. Architecture and design with De Castelli factory", volume No. 29). What is the secret of the magical portal between that and this Milan?
Cino Dzucki, a Milanese architect
Dzukki belongs to the generation of all-round professionals who learned from the masters of post-war Italy. Modern architects Antonio Citterio, Marco Piva, Piero Lissoni are graduates of the Milan Polytechnic Institute, profess a contextual approach and design everything: "from spoons to the city." Finding this philosophy close, Lualdi works closely with many of them, and the legendary Piero Lissoni is the company's current art director.
Piero Lissoni. Mysterious object, gold and artistic labyrinth
"The description of the door," argues Piero Lissoni, "is a serious matter." Doors are serious business. A mysterious object that transports us from one dimension to another, from one environment to another. It's not just a hole in the wall: the door is an element full of meaning, a true essence in itself that forms and holds the space." The legendary architect, energetic and hardworking "creative octopus" Piero Lissona, the creative driving force of Lualdi in 2014 brings the "Golden Compass" brand to the brand, designed the famous L16 door for the factory. Lissona's subject was awarded the prize "for adding architectural significance to an interior element."
Piero Lissoni, Milanese architect
Even outside the interior, the L16 door serves as a valuable art object, delicate, elegant, rich in images. In its implementation, Lissona uses StoneOak®, a material patented by Zanuso Legno. It resembles a natural stone covered with layers of earth, clay that has been deposited on it as a result of landslides or an earthquake. Enriching the surface of the door with such a complex and interesting texture, Lissony gives the object a meaningful background, its own history. And this story evokes emotions — the L16 door became the most popular object of photography at the annual exhibition in Milan, where it was presented for the first time.
Piero Lissoni: "The door is a mysterious object that transports us from one dimension to another"
For Lualdi, Lissona also develops the design of the main monobrand showroom. It is located in the former "Olympia" theater, symbolic for Milan, a building of the beginning of the XNUMXth century. The architect made the main goal of the interior design a connection with his history. "Olympia" is a place that naturally lends itself to storytelling. When developing a new design, we did more than pay tribute to the spirit of this place, turning it into a theatrical setting, ready to become a backdrop for new stories," explains Lissony.
The showroom consists of two main areas. In one of them, models of the brand's collections are presented, where you can familiarize yourself with the samples, experiment with the combination of finishes and details, in the second - feel how the products work in a living environment: kitchen, bathroom, office. "Our goal was to convey a real lifestyle concept that embodies what Lualdi can offer," explains CEO Alberto Lualdi.
Shoin Pivot is a glass pivot door with an aluminum frame, made in a minimalist design
In addition to the brand products presented in the exhibition, doors that function in space deserve special attention. They set the scene, guiding the guest and immersing them in the atmosphere of Lualdi. "In one case, the central characters, and in the other - hidden ones, all the doors create a sequence in the middle of the artistic labyrinth," says Alberto Lualdy.
Marko Piva. Architectural plastic
Marko Piva
Marko Piva: "When I take on a project, I connect the ego with the surrounding environment. First of all, I strive to maintain a strong connection with the place in which the object is located."
Radicalists appear in Italy in the seventies. In the period of the emergence of new aesthetics, the Milanese architect Marco Piva opens the Studiodada studio, which becomes one of the most famous creative workshops of that time, and 15 years later he heads Studio Marco Piva, a contemporary office that develops residential and office complexes, public spaces, tourist towns and subject design for many famous brands.
"I have always considered architecture a multitasking discipline, an independent and complex form of self-expression. I like that it combines science and art, intersects mathematics and geometry, nature and artificially created objects. "I like to explore building materials that can convey shapes and volumes, the play of light on surfaces and the longitudinally outlined building," says Marko.
Shoin is a system of sliding doors and stationary glass panels with one or two guides, designed to create partitions in space
The study of architectural plasticity leaves a mark on everything Piva designs. The Edge door collection, developed by the architect in collaboration with Lualdi, reflects the master's desire to create a visual three-dimensional effect on a flat surface.
Milan: a journey to the origins
Milan has a huge urban planning potential. As the architect Cino Dzukki rightly noted, this is a city that seeks and finds resources within itself, not having the opportunity to grow without limits: architects resuscitate the architecture of classicism and baroque, buildings of the era of totalitarianism, Art Deco heritage and abandoned industrial buildings. The Lualdi factory becomes a participant in this process, engaged not only in the production of individual products, but also in the design of interiors of large-scale spaces. These are hotels, offices, shopping areas.
Koan sliding panels, glass, aluminum profile
Renowned brands often become residents of the renovation spaces, among which are Lualdi customers: Armani, Versace, Rolex, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Citibank... For example, the multifunctional complex of the fashion brand Gucci (Gucci Hub), whose office interiors were worked on by the Lualdi company, is located in the iconic for Milan, a location possessing true genius loci. We are talking about the former Caproni aircraft factory, named after the famous engineer Gianna Caproni, one of the pioneers of world aviation. The first Italian aircraft was assembled here in 1911, bombers were produced during World War II, and after 1950 the building turned into a warehouse. In 2013, new life appeared in this space: offices, catwalks, showrooms of fashion brands, restaurants and recreation areas for visitors were created on the territory of hangars and work premises, an open courtyard and a garden.
Lualdi monobrand showroom in Milan
Lualdi monobrand showroom in Milan
Lualdi monobrand showroom in Milan
Lualdi monobrand showroom in Milan
Another example is the appeal to classical architecture in the project of a modern hotel. The Bulgari Hotel Milano hotel complex was built in the very center of Milan, in one of the most prestigious places of the city, in the Brera district, in a building whose oldest part dates back to the beginning of the 2003th century. Antonio Citterio became the author of the project in XNUMX. The famous Milanese architect always strives for minimalism, functionality and cleanliness of space. He believes that the elements of the interior should serve a person, saving him from unnecessary troubles, be "modest and quiet".
"The door models the space, outlines the trajectory of the movement, and this is its only task, so it needs to be invisible and silent," says Antonio Citterio. In the Bulgari Hotel Milano project, Citterio builds an ephemeral portal between historical and modern architecture, and the Lualdi factory integrates portals into space in the literal sense of the word. Masters of the company perform all interior doors in the interior of the hotel complex.
Koan Plus sliding panels, developed by Kokaistudios for Lualdi, are the result of inspiration from Asian culture
The entrance doors to the rooms are equipped with side panels, so that the decorative decoration of the doors and walls work as one whole. In the bathrooms, the designers departed from traditional solutions — here the doors are made of stainless steel. The interior, thought out to the smallest detail, rich in a combination of contrasting styles, turns the guest's stay into a very comfortable pastime and aesthetic pleasure from the surroundings.
Stern and Rockwell. Portal to America and Europe
The turning point for the Lualdi company comes in the 1990s, when the brand begins to cooperate with the United States and Great Britain. Lualdi opens a representative office in the USA, showrooms in New York and Miami. This becomes a reference point in the internationalization of the brand. In addition to Italian architects, the factory works with foreign architects and designers.
Chino Dzukka: "Milan is a city with great potential that seeks and finds resources within itself"
The American Robert A. M. Stern designs for Lualdi a model reminiscent in style of the doors of New York apartments of the thirties. New York architect David Rockwell is the author of the UPtown, MIDtown, and DOWNtown doors, referring to his original interior at the Chambers Hotel. Together with the Frenchman Eric Morvan, Lualdi creates the Outline door — a pure architectural element capable of modeling space.
What is considered a vice, and what is a perfection in the world of architecture? These opposite concepts are constantly changing places when eras, styles, and state regimes replace each other. It is more interesting to understand how vices and virtues are manifested in the professions of individual geniuses, creative units: architects, manufacturers, designers, managers of large brands, factories. We see their value in the creation of relevant and durable things at any time, in each period of history. Italian masters do it masterfully. True Milanese... Quiet, hardworking, elegant, who consider their profession a service and a mission. And it is not only about the perfection of technologies and craftsmanship, but also about the peculiarities of character and attitude to work, about devotion to one's own origins.
Yury Porubchenko, head of the Dominio Group company
Company Dominio Group, cooperating with leading Italian brands, is creating its own portal into the world of Lualdi: a monobrand showroom will soon appear in Kyiv, where iconic models and the company's latest novelties will be presented. The head of Dominio Group, Yury Porubchenko, shares this news: "We developed the showroom project together with specialists from the team of Piero Lissona, the legendary architect and creative director of the company."
The logic of organizing the space here is the same as in the Milan office. This will not be an exposition of Lualdi samples, but a model of a complete interior, including bedrooms, bathrooms, offices, where the products work in a live environment. The showroom will be very bright and open, and the sliding systems and boisiers will be of maximum height to demonstrate the technical capabilities of the production.
The project of the Lualdi monobrand showroom in the capital's "Domosfera" shopping center
"Lualdi offers a new understanding of doors and decorative panels - they are not separate objects, but form-forming elements of space. Their installation saves a person from building capital partitions," Yuri says. At the same time, a wide selection of "related" details, finishes, and textures for different products helps to create visual unity. Yuri noted that the company has a great influence on design and cooperates with leading architects and brands. Lualdi developed a set of hotels together with Philippe Starck; the factory often uses De Castelli metals in the decoration of doors and panels, and in international exhibitions it is next to Poliform and Flexform.
"Door factories usually do not take part in the world-famous Milan exhibition Isaloni, but Lualdi always presents its objects here," emphasizes Yuriy, "and this is another proof that Lualdi is not just doors."
Text: Maria Golubka
